Best CPU's of all time?

Most important CPU's Chronological Order:

1) Intel 4004 (1971) - The first commercially viable cpu.

2) Intel 8088 (1972) - The Grandfather of the modern PC CPU.

3) Motorola MC6800 (1974) - Grandfather of the MC68000 series.

4) Zilog Z80 (1976) - Z80 instruction set, used in the Radio Shack TRS-80.

5) MC68000 (1979) - The first of the incredible Motorola 68xxx series of processors.

6) 80186 (1981) - The first x86 compatible chip.

7) 80286 (1982) - The CPU used in the IBM PC-AT. Introduces protected mode.

8) Motorola MC68020 (1984) - The first 32 bit microprocessor.

9) R2000 (1985) - First MIPS processor.

10) 80386 (1986) - 32 bit cpu for Intel. Introduces virtual mode (one or more real mode programs can be run in a protected environment) 4GB flat memory model. Also paging translation for simpler virtual memory management.

11) SPARC v7 (1986) - The CPU that makes Sun Microsystems a major technology player for years to come.

12) 80486 (1989) - dominates the CPU market for years which is eons in technological terms.

13) IBM RS6000 (1990) - This CPU was the predecessor to IBM's PowerPC line.

14) AMD Am386 (1991) - Marks AMD's first foray into direct competition with Intel. 386 Clone.

15) Pentium (1993) - Intel's first superscalar (more than one instruction per clock cycle), 64 bit data bus.

16) Pentium Pro (1995) - Introduces on-package L2 cache, new micro architecture.
.....

more to come
 
AMD Barton 2500+ mobile

Easily overclocked to 3200+. Still have one in service running XP, an friend of mine has used it for I don't know how many years now. Still overclocked at a 200mhz bus with DDR 400. I tell him to go get a new computer, he could get something way faster for dirt cheap and his response to this day is "Why, this thing still works fine for me."
 
I gotta give props to the Athlon II X3's.

Theyre putting out outstanding performance on par with procs costing more than twice as much and more but coming in UNDER $75! They overclock well even on the stock AMD cooler. Dollar for dollar, may be the best processor on the market at this time.
 
the one I had the most fun with was the AMD Athlon 2600+ Mobile. 3.0 stable, 3.2 benchmarks if my memory serves me.

Ohh ohh ohh.. I had some fun with golden fingers on my slot Althlon2 600Mhz chip.
 
I remember my Athlon 64 3500+ being an awesome multi tasker for a single core.

I also need to mention the Athlon XP 2500+. Had my best overclock with that cpu prior to my i5.
 
Classic: amd xp 2800+, rocked to 3200+ like butter (good ol' socket a)

Old: intel q6600 g0 (775 architecture)

Newest age: this is still up in the air but i'd say the 1055t and 1090t from AMD may take the cake... sure the i5s and i7s are nice, but come on 200 price range and oc'able to 3.5-4ghz?
 
Opteron 165 -- Loved it to bits, overclocked like a mofo.
i7 920 -- One hell of an overclocker and price/performance is outstanding.
 
Dan_D said:
#10 Core i7

...It also is notable for being the fastest CPU at the time of this writing in the form of the 32nm Gulftown (6 core) CPU better known as the Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 975.
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Pretty sure you meant the 980X :p

Great post btw.
 
My list of "experience changers" is from personal experience
Pentium 1 100mhz (from 386)
Celeron 333mhz (From p1 100mhz)
Celeron 1.6ghz (from c333mhz)
Athlon 64 3000+ (from celeron 1.6ghz)
Athlon 64 x2 4000+ (from 3000+)
Q6700 (from 4000+)

I had several other cpus, but those are the most notable jumps in performance for me.
 
Going from a 486/33 to pentium 200 finally let me play warcraft 2 over the modem with friends, so that was great.
I remember hardocp wrote a lot about the celeron 300a performing at the level of a p2 450, even hitting 500mhz in some cases.
 
My Athlon XP 2500+ Barton oced@ 3200+ served me well for a solid 4 years. It still lives on as a Frankenstein test bed for different things. Also love my current [email protected]. Yes it is "old" but still holds its own. I like to get a feel for the best bang for the buck CPUs that will hold their own for a while :) Workhorse mentality.
 
My vote goes to the Zilog Z80A processor. It was in my first PC ever...the amazing Coleco ADAM. My love affair with PC's started with that 3.58 MHz wonder. :)
 
I've had an E6600 that ran at 3.0 by only changing the front side bus speed, a Q6600 that ran at 3.6 without much work (I've had it at 3.83) and a Q9550 that ran at 4.0 on my second boot attempt. All of them amazing for the money spent.
 
A few...

Intel 386: Fast fast fast, lasted me many years all while people were upgrading to 486DX2s.

Celeron 300A stands out in my memory as great value for the money. Obvious OCer.

P4 Northwood, great OCing, great CPU for quite a few years IMO.

Athlon X2, the dawning of a new era. Changed what I was able to do with just one machine, doing 3D rendering and compositing.

Q9550, C2D, current and best CPU I ever had. I guess i7 is wonderful too, even more so, but I am skipping this generation.
 
abit bp6 and a pair of celeron 366 @ 450 we the caddiliac for many years ofr quake for me and half life, wish i had kept that setup
 
Putz said:
abit bp6 and a pair of celeron 366 @ 450 we the caddiliac for many years ofr quake for me and half life, wish i had kept that setup
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Indeed, I friggin' kick myself all the time about letting a similar setup go :(
 
Of the ones I've owned, the ones that have stood out as being exceptional to me are:

Pentium 4 2.4GHz Northwood B 478. The Northwood B was the first P4 that didn't suck. There was that old Socket 423 crap, the RAMBUS crap, the lame 180nm Williamette, and the short-lived Northwood. The Northwood B came out, on a 130nm process, and was actually a good chip. I think slightly later Northwoods had hyperthreading, and they ran reasonably cool. The AMD equivalent was the Thoroughbred B, which was also a pretty impressive chip.

Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 939. Of course. The first dual-core consumer-level processor, and it was awesome. So much advancement, now everything is multicore.

I sorta missed the whole quad core thing. I've never owned a quad core CPU. The only Core 2 chip I owned was a Merom in my laptop. I didn't buy a desktop between 2005 and 2010.
I was an early adopter for dual core: I picked up the 3800+ in the first couple of months when it was still on Socket 939.
I was also an early adopter for hexacore: I picked up my 1055T within a month of launch.
Makes me a little bummed to have missed the apparently awesome years of Core 2 Quads and DDR2 and 8800GTXs.
 
Too bad this thread didn't include voting....to help make some sense of all the posts...

.
 
My personal favorite CPU of all time was my Thoroughbred B 1700+ chip. It was my first real build where I went for some "enthusiast" parts. My nForce 2 based Epox EP-8RDA+, Corsair PC3500 (BH5!), and that baby sang sweet, sweet music together. Bought it for 40 bucks and overclocked it from 1.4ghz to 2.1 or 2.2ghz. 50% OC! That was easily the most fun I ever had with a CPU.

Second place is probably my winchester A64 3000+, which was another OC special. Cheap, but you could clock the hell out of it as long as you had the ram (since it had a lower mult). Combined with an NF3 based MSI board I got it up to 2.7 or 2.8 from 2.0ghz. It was also exciting because the A64 was hands-down better than the P4's, and having so much OC'ing potential was awesome.

Third place is my Opty 170, my first dual core and combined with the DFI NF4 Ultra-D and some TCCD ram it got up to 2.7 or 2.8 just like the winchester. Sweeeeet

i7-950 now and its just not as much fun :(
 
Activate: AMD said:
My personal favorite CPU of all time was my Thoroughbred B 1700+ chip. It was my first real build where I went for some "enthusiast" parts. My nForce 2 based Epox EP-8RDA+, Corsair PC3500 (BH5!), and that baby sang sweet, sweet music together. Bought it for 40 bucks and overclocked it from 1.4ghz to 2.1 or 2.2ghz. 50% OC! That was easily the most fun I ever had with a CPU.

Second place is probably my winchester A64 3000+, which was another OC special. Cheap, but you could clock the hell out of it as long as you had the ram (since it had a lower mult). Combined with an NF3 based MSI board I got it up to 2.7 or 2.8 from 2.0ghz. It was also exciting because the A64 was hands-down better than the P4's, and having so much OC'ing potential was awesome.

Third place is my Opty 170, my first dual core and combined with the DFI NF4 Ultra-D and some TCCD ram it got up to 2.7 or 2.8 just like the winchester. Sweeeeet

i7-950 now and its just not as much fun :(
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Have to agree with your post. I ran the A64 3000+ for a very long time. I ran it from release to atleast a year after my choice for #1 CPU came out: the Core 2 Duo E6600/Core 2 Quad Q6600. I still have both these chips in commission, OC'd about 3.4 and they don't disappoint. They pale in comparison to my i7-930 rig, but so does most every CPU.

You're so right about the i7 not being as fun. I haven't tried to push my i7 at all really. I put together the machine, installed Windows. On a reboot for driver install I decided to check out the BIOS. Left the BIOS with a 3.56 clock just for giggles and to my shock it booted. And to my shock, it seemed stable. To my shock, Prime95 gave it no trouble, my temps were LOW. I've just left it there as any lack in performance I've found with my rig can be pinned on the GPU or storage. It was almost an accidental OC that worked out just fine. I spent days trying to get 3.6 down on my E6600 rig. It's terribly nerve-racking, but the geek in me really does love trying to find a stable OC.
 
I will have to go with the Intel Pentium 4 2.4C (800mhz FSB). This was my first computer build about 7 years ago, I overclocked that bad boy to 3ghz and its still running and in use to this day!...not for me, of course, for my parents.
 
Gym Rat said:
I gotta give props to the Athlon II X3's.

Theyre putting out outstanding performance on par with procs costing more than twice as much and more but coming in UNDER $75! They overclock well even on the stock AMD cooler. Dollar for dollar, may be the best processor on the market at this time.
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I agree. Hell, I bought my Athlon II X3 425 lightly used for only $42 on ebay.
 
6502 because it ruled the home micro-computer market before the IBM PC took over.

386DX, because it was designed for multi-tasking (rapid task-switching, anyway) and showed IBM had lost ownership of the PC platform.

The Athlon processor. AMD took the performance crown for the first time and gave Intel real competition.

Core 2 Duo. Intel left AMD in the dust, where AMD is still today.

Next contenders:

Intel Core i3 2x00 vs. AMD ??? Fusion. XBox 360-like graphics on laptops and low-end Wal-mart PCs with integrated video.
 
plinko said:
My Athlon XP 2500+ Barton oced@ 3200+ served me well for a solid 4 years. It still lives on as a Frankenstein test bed for different things. Also love my current [email protected]. Yes it is "old" but still holds its own. I like to get a feel for the best bang for the buck CPUs that will hold their own for a while :) Workhorse mentality.
Click to expand...
Yes! I had a 2500+ and 2600+ that overclocked extremely well and lasted me FOREVER, both Barton cores. Really great chips.
 
I've been in the game since the 386 days. The CPU that I really liked was my Pentium MMX 233. I still have that CPU. Second would have been my Pentium 4 Northwood 2.53GHz CPU.
 
how bout the blue meanie they called it was a thunderbird i think at 1000mhz
next one i liked was the SL2W8 P2 300
also the p4 1.6A
liked the Pentium Pro 200 OC that to 233mhz Woo Hoooo
the x2 3800 was a good one also
loved the Q6600 GO steping of course
my fav has to be the one i got now I5 750 OC to 4.2 ghz on air for a year now........
Had the preshot also hottttt
xp 1700 was an ok chip
Phenom II 925 was good also my daughter has that now runs great
All the good timessssssssssssss
 
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